


The Long Road Home

by Osgood19



Category: Knight Rider (1982)
Genre: HumanKitt, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:20:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23748220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osgood19/pseuds/Osgood19
Summary: (First fic) Kitt is human and he has been for some time now. When the unimaginable happens he finds himself on a deserted highway with only one car in sight. A black trans-am with a red scanner. (I know it sounds lame hopefully it's better than the summery)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a fic that I have been working on over at fanfiction.net. It's not finished, in fact, its no-where near finished and for some insane reason, I decided to post it here too. I might not update it as regularly (not that I do that anyway) and I am trying to put all the other chapters together and copy them here. This is also an effect of procrastination that it's up on Ao3. Anyway, Enjoy!

Kalem 'Kitt' Rider. That was what he called himself. KITT was a car and only a few people who knew him called him Kitt, but most people called him Kalem. He knew who he was, the Knight industries two thousand K.I.T.T and he was glad he could remember those times.

To say they were happier times might have been a stretch but they were better.

Kitt sighed as he closed the restaurant door and locked it. Just another part-time job to pay the bills.

He lived in Vancouver Canada. It was cold but didn't get as much snow as the rest of Canada. He pulled his jacket closer around his neck. Sure Vancouver didn't get snow, but it was still cold.

He'd moved from California to Vancouver in search of Micheal Knight. He knew his driver and friend was alive and in Vancouver. Sadly it's a big city.

Kitt stopped at the bus stop and checked the times. He'd just missed it. Or maybe it was late he thought hopefully. Pulling out his phone he checked looked for the bus. Nope missed it.

Shaking his head he began walking home. It was dark and cold and not the best place to be at night.

He could hear footsteps. Lots of them. Glancing over his shoulder he saw three shadows walking behind him. Quickening his pace he thought he would take a short cut through the park. It had lights!

Walking as fast as he could without running he entered the park but stopped.

Something wasn't right. The lights up ahead were flickering. And he seemed to have a spotlight on him as he stood under the only working light. One by one the lights down the dark path went out all coming towards him.

"Nothing to be scared of." He told himself quietly. "Just your imagination. It's been a long day."

He stepping backwards as the darkness got closer. Turing to run he saw three black shapes of people. All standing behind him.

This is what he hated about being human. Yes, he felt fear as an A.I but he could hide it. Now he felt his heart try and beat its way out of his chest. Turning around and found the fourth person who pushed him to the ground.

The dark figure leaned over him and as the last light went out said.

"Hello, Kitt."

Then there was darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

The darkness seemed to slowly melt away to reveal more darkness. Although this darkness was different

It had stars.

Kitt blinked. What happened? He sat up slowly, rubbing his head as it started pounding.

Looking around he decided he must be on a highway. In the middle of the night. Kitt started to wonder what had happened. He remembered walking home from work then he'd gone into a park and…. And then what? He couldn't remember.

Kitt looked around some more and saw his backpack. Leaping up to grab it had been a bad idea as his head started pounding some more.

Kitt rummaged through it and found his wallet. 'Ok, so I wasn't mugged.' He put his wallet back and pulled out his phone.

Sighing he stood up carefully. So he had his wallet and his phone, which meant he wasn't mugged in a dark park. But his phone was dead and he was in the middle of nowhere. He'd probably freeze out here before he got to help or before they found him.

"Wait.," Kitt said, realizing the jacket he had been wearing was on the floor and he wasn't cold. In fact, it wasn't freezing at all!

Kitt looked around again. Where was he? He was not in Vancouver that's for sure. Turning around he saw headlights coming his way.

Thank god! He though. Grabbing his jacket and putting picking up his backpack he did something he never thought he would do. Wave down the car.

"Please don't be a murder." He said quietly to himself as the sleek black car got closer. He did a double-take as he saw something red on the front of the car.

The car pulled up next to him and he felt like he was seeing a ghost! Before him stood a sleek black trans-am with a red scanner on the front.

He shook his head. 'No it's not a scanner,' he thought. 'It's just something someone thought would be… cool that's all.'

"You alright there pal?"

A voice startled him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see a man he knew so well. A man who had been his only best friend. The man he had spent the last 2 years trying to track down.

Micheal Knight.


	3. Chapter 3

Micheal this is not music! It is noise and yelling." KITT stated to his driver.

Micheal Knight shook his head with a smile.

"Its rock n' roll KITT!"

The Knight Industries two thousand aka KITT seemed to make a grumbling noise as Micheal turning up the radio and started patting along with the beat on the wheel.

KITT supposed he should let Micheal unwind. Even if it was listening to music that made his insides rattle.

They had just finished up a case helping an elderly woman find her lost fortune. Micheal had laughed and said that it sounded like a bad mystery novel. Not long after they were being shot at. Turns out the woman's grandson had taken it to pay off some mob debts.

KITT had already finished writing his report for Devon and was about to ask Micheal if he would like help with his when a blip appeared on his scanners.

Micheal had changed the station after KITT remained quite. He decided soft rock was better for his nerves.

"Micheal, my sensors indicate there is a young man on the side of the road up ahead."

Micheal looked peered out the windscreen to see nothing but blackness.

"Where?"

"Directly ahead. A medical scan indicates he has recently been hit in the head." KITT brought up a medical scan on the monitor.

Micheal could see him now. A young man with very dark hair pale skin.

"Let's see if he needs a ride. Scan him for weapons." Micheal said before he got out of the car.

The young man was regarding the car as if he'd seen a ghost.

Micheal asked him if he needed a ride and the man ignored him as if he hadn't heard him. Micheal could see blood on his forehead. Slowly coming around to stand off the side of KITTs hood, wanting to keep a barrier in between them just in case, he looked at the young man and tried again.

"You alright there pal?"

The young man's head snapped up and he looked like he was about to faint.

"Are you ok? Do you need help?" Micheal decided this kid wasn't dangerous so he approached him only to have him back up.

KITT seemed to be watching this exchange with worry. Not that he would ever admit to worrying about his driver, but something about this kid made him worry.

"Micheal, he doesn't have any weapons aside from a metallic object in his pocket. He could also have a concussion which would mean-" KITT was cut off the young man yelped out and stepped away from KITT. Only to find himself sitting in a ditch.

Micheal bent down to help the kid out the ditch reaching out his hand to help him up he said.

After they both stood up Micheal was about to ask him if he could speak when the young man spoke up.

"Thank you. Um, could you point me in the direction of the nearest gas station?" His voice was shaky, almost like he was nervous to speak.

Micheal looked at him and decided to humour him. Smiling he pointed behind him.

"There's most likely a gas station that was but it might take a while. Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital instead? I mean there's probably better food at the gas station, but I can give you a lift if you want?" Micheal trailed off as he realized he'd lost the kids attention at some point

Unnerving was a word that came to KITTs processor. Although he didn't have nerves, nor could he feel, but he imagined it would feel something like how he was feeling now.

This kid was peering in through the passenger window. Looking at the dash. KITT felt like he needed to hide. Tinting the windows so he couldn't see he scanned the kid again. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Where am I?" The kid asked Micheal.

Micheal looked at this kid with concern before he turned to KITT.

"KITT," both KITT and Micheal watched as the kid looked at them like ghosts. "Where are we?"

"The Mojave desert Micheal."

The kid started to laugh.

"This is a joke, isn't it? I'm dreaming! I really was mugged, and this is what my subconscious thinks is funny!" He started laughing more.

"Micheal, perhaps we should subdue him? He seems to be a bit… unhinged." KITT spoke softly to Micheal who nodded.

"Yeah, sure!" The kid said "Subdue me. That might take me back to reality-" he stopped and grabbed onto KITTs roof he clutched his head.

Micheal didn't know what to do! Either this kid was crazy or he had some issues, but he also seemed to be in pain. "KITT scan him."

" I have been Micheal, there's nothing wrong with him aside from a mild concussion!"

The kid dropped to his knees and Micheal bent down next to him and touch his shoulder.

"Look, I'm gonna take you to the hospital if you like it or not. But I'm gonna need to know your name before I let you get into my car." So I run a background check, Micheal, though.

The kid glanced at Micheal, the looked down at the road beneath his knees.

"Kalem. My name is Kalem."

Micheal nodded. "There you go. That wasn't so painful was it?" Micheal reached his hand down to help Kalem off the ground for the second time in a few minutes.

Kalem nodded and picked up the backpack he had with him. Micheal opens KITTs passenger door, only now noticing that KITT had tinted his windows. That wasn't like KITT.

"I'm Micheal, by the way, Micheal Knight." He heard a thud and looked over to see Kalem passed out on the highway.

Rushing over he picked Kalem up and put him in the passenger seat.

"What happened to him KITT?"

"He fainted Micheal," KITT stated.

Micheal shook his head. Something about this guy bothered him. He felt like he should know him but just couldn't place him.

It was the same feeling KITT had, an unnerving sort of feeling. He looked over at Kalem and the backpack at his feet.

"KITT what's the fastest route to the nearest hospital?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back!
> 
> I feel I should apologize for the lack of any new chapters here.  
> I gave this to my sister to proofread (keep in mind she is NOT, I repeat NOT a Knight Rider fan) and she said the first few chapters were....well...boring. I was going to rewrite them but decided I don't want that kinda stress so I'm keeping them as they are! Plus a few grammar corrections that I noticed after I posted them. 
> 
> Anyway, Enjoy it!

Micheal had gone through Kalem's pockets and retrieved the metallic thing before dropping him off at the hospital. He had remained unconscious for the entire journey.

The nurse had told him they would give him a call when he wakes up and they would most likely keep him overnight.

Now Micheal sat inside KITT going through Kalems backpack. Yes, it was an invasion of privacy, but he needed to know who this guy was.

"He doesn't have much," Micheal said as he regarded the contents of Kalem's backpack on KITTs seat.

"What did you expect to find Micheal?" KITT asked.

Micheal shook his head as he picked up Kalem's wallet from the pile.

"I don't know pal. Neon signs maybe. He has a driver's license so he can't be that unhinged."

" Micheal I feel I must remind you but we have met plenty of… 'unhinged' people and lots of them have a driver's license," KITT said. "But perhaps I could run his full name through my database and find out who he is. Or maybe his address?"

"Right, his full name is Kalem Kitt Rider, heh I've never met another Kitt before," Micheal said absently.

"Alright, I need a birthdate to narrow the search." Micheal looked over to see KITT filling the information in on the monitor.

"Hmm…. That can't be right…" Micheal muttered as he took a closer look at Kalem's license.

"What is it, Micheal?" KITT asked.

Micheal stared blankly at the license before looking at KITTs voice module and asking.

"Did Bonnie ever get that fake document scanner thing working in the semi?"

"Why yes, Micheal I believe she did," KITT replied.

Micheal nodded and started the car. "We'll come back when our friend is conscious, tell the semi we're coming in."

KITT kept quiet for the drive to the semi. He had scanned the license as well as everything else in Kalems backpack. The metallic thing worried him the most. It was electronic but seemed non-functional. Micheal had questions he wanted to ask Kalem and so did KITT. He still felt shaken for lack of a better word. It was a feeling he had only ever felt one other time when he had encountered KARR.

Micheal pressing the buttons too open the semis door brought KITT out if his thoughts and he realized they had better things to focus on.

"It's real. One hundred percent real. But how?" Bonnie Barstow asked as she handed Micheal Kalems driver's license.

Micheal had told both her and Devon about what had happened. About the young man on the road and his current location. Everyone now stared at the license Micheal held in his hand.

"Issued 2019? Born 1998? It doesn't make any sense!" Bonnie exclaimed. She had run everything over that license and came up with nothing.

"Perhaps a fake I.d joke? You said it yourself Micheal he looks very young. Perhaps it was a joke taken too far? Devon Miles suggested. He had remained quiet ever since Micheal had told them about the i.d.

Micheal nodded. Maybe that's why this kid was in the middle of nowhere. It takes a certain kind of special to leave someone in the desert with a concussion, but Micheal has had to deal with people who would do something like that before. So why did it bother him so much? It's not like this sort of thing didn't bother him, this just seemed different.

Something moved in Micheals jacket pocket. An unnatural buzzing started and Micheal pulled out the metallic thing.

It stopped soon after Micheal touched it.

Bonnie had started to examine it and try and figure out what it was when the phone in the back of the semi rang. Devon went to answer it.

Micheal and Bonnie stayed at stared at the metallic thing on the desk.

"What's that in the back? Micheal asked pointing to three eye looking things on what he'd decided was the back.

"I don't know," Bonnie replied. She was fascinated, with maybe a tad bit of worry as to watch this thing was. "Could be a camera of some kind?" She supplied. Micheal shrugged.

He was about to venture another idea when Devon came back.

"That was the hospital, Micheal, it appears your friend is awake."


	5. Chapter 5

There was an insistent beeping that was starting to drive him insane. His roommate Elijah must have forgotten to turn his alarm off before he went to work.

What he opened his eyes to was not what he expected to see. He expected to see his room, with his desk and the closet and his phone in the charging dock telling him the time. Instead what he saw was a white curtain on all sides of him. He was in a hospital? Since when? The dream! He thought as he tried to sit upright only to have his brain collide with his skull that made him lay back down.

The insistent beeping he discovered was the monitor next to the bed, keeping track of his heart rate.

Kalem sighed and rubbed his head. Had he really seen Micheal Knight or had it been a crazy dream? It felt like a dream, but somehow he thought it could be real.

A nurse with fiery red hair opening the curtain snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Good your up." She said walking towards him. "How do you feel?"

He looked at her blankly.

"What happened? Why am I here?"

She gave him a concerned smile. "Let me go get Dr.Bradford." with that she left.

A few minutes later Dr.Bradford showed up along with the nurse from earlier.

He held a clipboard with him and started talking to the nurse. He ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair then turned to look at Kalem.

"So I hear you hit your head pretty hard huh?"

Kalem nodded.

"Right well, since you had a concussion and were unconscious for quite some time, there are some questions that I need to ask you. Nurse Nellie will assist me alright?" said. Dr.Bradford Kalem nodded again.

"Alright," The doctor started, "Name?"

"Kalem Rider." The doctor wrote it down while the nurse looked over his I.v.

"And now these are questions to make sure your memory is still intact." Dr.Bradford looked over the papers then looked back up at Kalem and asked.

"Who is the president of the United States?"

Kalem looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't it be the prime minister of Canada?"

Nurse Nellie stopped what she was doing to look at him, then the doctor, then back at him.

"Why?" She asked. Still with a concerned look on her face.

Kalem watched her and the doctor. "Are we not in Canada?..." he asked softly.

The nurse and the doctor looked at each other then looked back at him.

"Can you tell me who the president of the united states is?" asked again sounding worried.

Kalem looked at them. "Donald Trump."

"The millionaire?" Stated the nurse.

"Yeah…." Kalem trailed off as the doctor left the room and beckoned Nurse Nellie to follow.

Kalem sat back as he was once again alone. They had looked at him like he was crazy. For that reaction, something was wrong. Looking around the room he saw his clothes neatly folded on a chair. He could make a run for it! The logical side of his brain demanded to know where they would go. And that was the problem. He was not in Vancouver anymore.

Kalem sighed. He felt like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

The curtain opened again. He looked up expecting to see Nurse Nellie or Dr.Bradford, but it was neither.

Micheal Knight stood before him and gave him a slight smile.

"I don't know if you remember me. I'm Micheal, I brought you here last night." Micheal said.

Kalem just stared at him before he found his voice and nodded.

"Yes, I remember you. To be honest I thought it was just a dream." Kalem said.

Micheal smiled and shook his head. "Nope, not a dream." There was something about the way Kalem looked at him with a sorrowful look in his eyes that made Micheal feel like he knew him.

Kalems expression changed and he regarded Micheal with suspicion.

"Why are you here?"

Micheal shrugged. "I wanted to know that you were alright." Also, I need to know about that driver's license, but Micheal kept the last bit to himself.

"Oh," Kalem looked more at ease then, he looked up at Micheal and smiled.

"Well, I'm alright. Although I think the doctors might commit me." He tried to peer around Micheal to see outside the curtain but couldn't.

Micheal nodded. He had talked with and Nurse Nellie before coming to see Kalem. They had both said Kalem had been so sure of his answer. It intrigued him. First, the driver's license with the odd dates now this. Micheal had ventured with time travel, but KITT had told him it was impossible.

" Can I ask you something?" Kalem spoke up as silence had fallen in the makeshift room.

"I'll try my best to answer," Micheal said jokingly.

Kalem didn't look so amused.

"Right. Well umm…..could you umm," he seemed to struggle with the question. Almost as if he couldn't put it into words.

"Could you tell me what year it is?" He finally managed.

A light bulb went on in Michael's head. He must be a time traveller! Who else asks those kinds of questions?! Michael thought.

"1986. Why?" Micheal said. The look of shock on Kalems face told him that that was not what he was expecting.

"1986….awesome," he said in a sarcastic tone.

Micheal decided to take a gamble.

"You're from 2019 aren't you? That's what it says on your driver's license. So? Are you?" Micheal had taken a risk with that. For all he knew this was some crazy who had hit their head too hard. But somehow Micheal doubted he was crazy.

Kalem nodded. Micheal wanted to jump up and say I knew it. He was more professional than that.

" I have to make a quick phone call. I'll be back though. Don't go anywhere!" Micheal almost sounded excited. He was just glad he was right. He left a confused looking Kalem in the curtain room and rushed downstairs to talk with KITT and call Devon.

Kalem just sat there almost too stunned to move. Micheal figured it out because of his license! Damn.

Peering through the slit in the curtain he decided it was now or never. He kept up and started disconnecting everything. He almost passed out again trying to take out the I.v.

Finally getting the I.v out he checked the curtain one more time, then started getting dressed.

Micheal sat in KITT outside the hospital. He called the semi to talk with Devon.

"He's definitely from the future," Micheal stated to Devon.

Devon shook his head still not believing him.

"Micheal are you sure?"

"There's no doubt about it! Everything points to that!" Micheal said, his voice rising slightly.

"Look Devon all I'm saying is we should take him to the foundation. For all we know some doctors are gonna let slip that they have a patient who seems crazy, they commit him and we'll never get to see him again!" Micheal explained.

Devon regarded him through the video screen then nodded.

"You have a point there Micheal."

"Micheal!" Bonnie appeared on the screen. "You have to bring him here. That thing is making all kinds of noises and I don't know how to stop it!" She sounded like she was starting to panic.

Micheal chuckled. "Since when have you ever had anything you couldn't-" he stopped.

A black SUV had pulled up outside the hospital entrance. Three men dressed in black got out and looked at something one of them had in there hand.

"I'll call you guys back." Micheal pressed a button and the screen went dark.

"KITT, can you scan those men over there?"

KITT started his scan and was shocked.

"Micheal those men are all carrying a type of modified weapon! It doesn't match anything in my databank." KITT told Micheal.

Micheal could see they were looking at a picture. "Can you get a closer look at that photo of theirs?"

"Of course Micheal," KITT responded.

Micheal looked at the monitor as the picture the men were looking at appeared. KITTs snapshot. He enhanced the photograph and Micheal felt his heart pound. The photograph was of Kalem. These men were here for Kalem.

Leaping out of the car Micheal rushed into the hospital trying his best to not draw any attention to himself.

He saw the men come in behind him and go to information. They showed the nurse the photo and she smiled and told them where to find him. 'Why?!' Michael thought as he got in the elevator.

"KITT?" Micheal asked into his comlink.

"Yes, Micheal?" Came KITTs reply.

"I need you to slow those men down. We have to get Kalem out of here before they get him."

"Understood Micheal." KITT located the men getting into the elevator, so he jammed it. Just enough so that it would stop for enough time for Micheal to get Kalem and get out.

Micheal got to Kalems floor and went to the room cornered off with curtains. Opening the curtain, Kalems head snapped up to look at him. He had been tying his shoes sitting at the end of the bed.

"I'll ask later. Right now we need to go!" Micheal said.

"Why?" Kalem asked. He had been planning to escape if it could be called an escape. He knew the hospital wanted to keep him in longer but he didn't want to change saying something he shouldn't.

"Let's just say, there are some very unfriendly looking thugs downstairs who are looking for you." Micheal peered out between the curtains when his comlink beeped.

"Yeah KITT what's wrong?" Micheal asked.

"Micheal I can't hold the elevator any longer."

"Alright KITT, let them go." Micheal started heading out into the hall then turned to see Kalem just watching his wrist. The comlink. Micheal thought he saw sorrow in Kalems eyes, but he brushed it aside, and reach for Kalems arm.

"Do you wanna wait for those men, or come with me?"

Kalem stepped into the hallway and turned to Micheal.

"Which way do we go?"

Micheal nodded and pointed towards a stairwell next to the elevator. They were walking towards it when the elevator dinged.

Kalem was standing face to face with the men. Micheal grabbed his arm and yanked him into the stairwell. He could hear the men shouting at each other when the door crashed open and it started raining bullets.

Kalem could have sworn they were blue with feathers, but he'd never shot at before so he had no reference to tell otherwise.

They ran down the stairs, with the goons followed closely behind them.

Finally, they came to the first floor and Micheal pushed the door open. They were in reception. He could see KITT waiting for them outside the door.

Micheal told Kalem to run to the 'black sports car' but he already seemed to be running in that direction. Turning and pulling the fire alarm he continued running. He saw a paramedic come running in and then drop to the floor.

Micheal didn't have time to stop. But Kalem had. He stopped outside KITTs passenger door and was looking at the paramedic on the floor.

"GET IN!" Micheal yelled at him and he complied.

KITT tooled out of the hospital parking.

"Why are they after us?" Kalem asked as he clutched onto the seat.

"They want you! And I can think of a few reasons why!" Micheal said as he narrowly avoided an intersection, KITT briefly took over then handed the controls back over to Micheal.

Kalem scoffed. "I don't have any enemies who want to kill me!"

"Oh and I suppose I do?" Micheal argued back. Why was he even arguing in the first place? He felt like he was arguing with an old friend.

Kalem looked over his shoulder to see that the SUV was still behind them.

"Well yeah, of course, you would. You work for the foundation you're bound to have enemies!" Kalem hardly realized his mistake.

Micheal looked at him with a shocked look. Spotting a parking garage up ahead he floored the accelerator and swerved into it. The SUV when straight past them.

Micheal turned to look at Kalem. "How did you know I worked for the foundation?"

Kalem felt his heart skip a beat.

"Uhm….you told me."

"When?"

"In the hospital."

Kalem wasn't meeting Micheals's eye.

"The coast is clear Micheal." KITT said softly.

Micheal nodded and pulled the car out of the garage. He needed to know he this kid was, and it wasn't like he was willingly telling him.

"I'm turning you into the authorities," Micheal said calmly. It was bait, and Kalem took it.

"What? No, you can't!" Kalem said. Micheal could hear the panic clear in his voice.

"Oh yeah and why shouldn't I? Give me one good reason?" Micheal was becoming frustrated with this kid. He never seemed to answer any of his questions and the ones he did answer left him with more questions.

Kalem looked at him. He didn't know what to do! This was not a dream, and the few people he had talked probably thought he was insane!

He looked at KITTs dash, what once was his dash, and took a deep breath. Micheal was being… well, Micheal. He knew he wouldn't turn him over to the authorities but he also didn't want to chance it. Taking a deep breath he knew what he had to do.

"You can't turn me over to the authorities because-" he stopped and looked and Micheal who was staring at him with a look that told him he'd better quit playing.

"Because I'm KITT "


	6. Chapter 6

"Because I'm KITT."

Micheal just shook his head and laughed.

"Yeah, ok. Your middle name is Kitt. If you want me to call you that I'm fine with it but I know someone who might not-"

Kalem cut him off.

"No! I'm KITT! Knight Industries two thousand KITT!"

KITT felt his systems freeze. Micheal had yet to introduce them and yet Kalem knows what K.I.T.T stood for.

KITT scanned Kalem again and found his heart rate rising. Turning his attention to Micheal he noticed his partner's eyes narrowed and he stared at Kalem. KITT decided it would be safer if he drove and switched on auto cruise.

"Oh that's funny, that's real funny!" Micheal said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Who put you up to this?"

He was getting angry KITT knew. Kalem shook his head, his hands were shaking.

"No one's put me up to this." He said softly.

"Right so you just happen to know about KITT and the foundation?" Micheal said in a sarcastic tone.

"I know about you too." Kalem said.

Micheal scoffed. "I bet you do."

"Your name is Micheal Knight, formerly Micheal Long. You were shot in the desert while on a case. Wilton Knight found you and made you into Micheal Knight..."

KITT scanned Micheal and noticed he was starting to tense up.

"Who told you all that?" Micheals's voice was dangerously low.

Kalem shook his head.

"No one told me. I was programmed to protect you. I knew everything about you. Once." He said ruefully.

"Micheal-" KITT tried to get his partner's attention but Micheal wasn't listening.

Micheal pulled the car into an empty parking space on the side of the road. Opening the door he told Kalem to get out.

"W-what?"

"You heard me. Get. Out."

The door closed, and Micheals's door opened.

"KITT?!" Micheal yelled.

"Micheal I believe him. I want to ask him something while you...cool down." KITT told Micheal, who was glaring at the dashboard.

Micheal gaped at the dashboard. Looking from KITT to Kalem then got out and slammed the door.

If KITT had been human he would have flinched, something Kalem did.

KITT watched Kalem and Kalem watched him. KITT could understand that feeling now. Familiarity. He believed Kalem, and KITT had no idea why.

"You believe me?" Kalem asked KITT hopefully.

"Tell me something… only we would know. Something I know you couldn't have read in a report" KITT said slowly. Yes, he believed Kalem, but he still needed proof.

Kalem thought about it for a moment and then answer KITTs question.

X

Micheal was fuming slightly. This stranger said he was claiming to be KITT, knew who he was before and knew about the foundation. It didn't sit well with him yet he still felt like he knew him. Now that his own KITT had kicked him out he had seen Kalem talking with KITT. His comlink beeped.

"Yes KITT?" Micheal asked in an exasperated tone.

"Micheal you can come back now. But you have to promise to listen to what Kalem has to say."

Micheal sighed. "I promise."

Micheal got back into the car and looked at Kalem.

"KITT told me to hear you out, so make it good." Micheal felt a stab of guilt. If Kalem was KITT, Micheal would feel bad for how he talked to him.

Kalem took a deep breath.

"KITT told me to tell him something that I wouldn't have read in a report."

Micheal nodded slowly. He and KITT had met phonies many times before, so asking him something for something not in a file was most likely there best bet.

"When we first met, you wanted revenge on Tanya Walker. We were driving to silicon valley when you fell asleep behind the wheel, I took over and started driving until the cops saw you sleeping and tried to pull us over. I told you to pretend to be deaf to explain why you didn't hear them…." Kalem trailed off softly, looking down at his hands crossed in his lap.

There was silence in the cabin. No one else knew that. Micheal had never put it in his report, the fewer details in that report the better, and KITT said be didn't see it as important enough to put in his report. They hadn't told Bonnie either. That meant….

"You really are KITT aren't you?" Micheal asked.

Kalem gave him a faint smile and nodded.

Micheal watched him and thought back to that day that was so long ago.

"Right then," Micheal said as he pulled out of his rushed parking spot," you've convinced me and KITT now you just have to convince Bonnie and Devon."

Micheal smiled at him then asked.

"So do I call you Kitt or Kalem?"

Kalem looked at Micheal with something close to joy in his eyes.

"Kalem is fine."

The rest of the drive to the semi was in silence.


	7. Chapter 7

It didn't take long for them to get to the semi. Micheal told Kalem to wait while he talked with Bonnie and Devon.

KITT watched Micheal talk with Bonnie and Devon and saw them glance through the windscreen at Kalem with a mixture of shock and confusion as well as disbelief.

KITT turned his attention towards Kalem and scanned him for the hundredth time. Kalem was tense.

He shifted in the seat and stretched his legs out as if he were trying to get comfortable.

"You have nothing to worry about. Bonnie and Devon will believe Micheal." KITT tried.

Kalem nodded, although much to KITTs dismay, he didn't seem to relax.

"Is there something bothering you?" KITT tried again. He desperately wanted to talk to Kalem. Normally everyone wanted to talk to a talking car, but Kalem wasn't just anyone.

He was Kitt. KITT, however, thought he should be more uneasy talking to himself, since in a way he was. KITT didn't know what he would have expected a human form of himself to look like, but he thought Kalem looked very young.

KITT was taken out of his thoughts by Kalem answering his question.

"It's just that….. you know when you go to someone else's house for the first time and you don't know them very well? That feeling you get?"

KITT felt a little lost. "No, I'm afraid I don't. Is that not a very nice feeling?" He was curious himself about how that felt like.

Kalem bit his lip and came up with a better explanation.

"How about when you have to wait in a parking lot? That feeling that you get? When you're surrounded by cars that are… familiar but also...not. That's what it feels like. And don't try and tell me you don't have feelings! I'm you. I know." He sat back in the chair as he realized it was a terrible explanation, and KITT thought maybe he'd relaxed a bit since that was more then he'd said in the past few hours.

True KITT would have said he didn't get feelings but it would have been a lie. He was about to ask Kalem something else when there was a soft click and Micheal had opened Kalems door.

X

Bonnie and Devon had been quite shocked at what Micheal told them. It just didn't seem possible! Devon said he wouldn't believe it until Bonnie pointed out the driver's license dates and the metallic thing. She was skeptical about what Micheal had told them and even Micheal still was being more cautious when he explained what had happened. Devon made sure they wouldn't tell him anything sensitive just in case.

Bonnie had often wondered what KITT would look like if he were human. It was something she thought about when she'd been up for too long.

His driver's license started he was 6' feet tall, but the picture didn't describe him at all.

He had jet black hair that seemed to stick up in every direction, he looked young, late teens early twenties Bonnie thought, his was pale, almost like he didn't see the sun a lot, and he had brown eyes. She'd thought they'd be red.

Micheal introduced them and he smiled shyly. Devon came forward to shake his hand.

"I am sure that, if what Micheal says about you is true, you already know us," Devon said smoothly.

Kalem took Devon's hand and said with a soft smile, "I knew you all once. It was a long time ago though."

Devon tightened his grip on Kalem's hand in a threatening manner.

"I hope for your sake you really are KITT. I'd hate to have let a dangerous stranger into our home."

Bonnie and Micheal had heard Devon's threat, not that he was being quite. The clear look of fear on Kalems face seemed to be a light for Devon and he let Kalems hand go.

Kalem still had a look of fear on his face when he said. "I promise you I am KITT, and it's just as hard for me to be here as it is for you to admit that I'm KITT….." he trailed off as if realizing he'd said something he shouldn't

Everyone looked at him for a moment and his face started going pink.

"I know it's hard to believe, I know I'd be having a hard time with it but…. I am KITT. I'll do whatever it takes for you to believe me!" Kalem said. He was starting to lose hope that they would believe him, even after what KITT had said.

Micheal shook his head.

"You shouldn't have said that." He said playfully, smirking at Kalem.

"Why?" Kalem asked.

Micheal looked at Bonnie and said, "Well, we can now ask you anything we want and you have to answer with the truth. And the best part is since you say your KITT, you know that our KITT can tell when someone is lying. So, therefore he'll know if you lie." Micheal finished by crossing his arms over his chest.

Kalem nodded. He expected questions and so far he'd been answering everything as truthfully as he could. A smile made it's way onto Kalems face as he looked at the three other people I'm the semi and said,

"Where would you like to hear?"

Everyone looked at him, blinked, looked at KITT then back to Kalem.

His voice for just that one sentence had sounded exactly like KITT.

X

It had taken about an hour for everyone to ask questions. Mostly questions about KITT, the foundation and anything else Kalem could remember about being KITT.

And they believed him.

It had taken a while and he was still getting some odd looks.

Kalem was halfway through answering Devon's question about how the foundation started when his stomach made a loud groaning sound. His ears turned red.

Micheal smiled. "When was the last time you ate?"

Kalem gave him a vacant look and shook his head. "Last night? The night before that? I don't know."

Shaking his head, Micheal got up and muttered something about making sandwiches.

Kalem watched him leave when KITT spoke up. He had been rather quiet since they'd started interrogating Kalem.

"Kalem, do you have memories of these conversations?"

All eyes turned to Kalem. Even Micheal appeared in the doorway leading into the small semi kitchen.

Kalem just had a blank look on his face.

"You know I've been trying to remember this. All it's done is give me a headache. I don't remember this even though I know I should, I just don't."

Everyone shared a concerned look and Kalem looked at them.

"Maybe you blocked it out? Or maybe there was a malfunction with the memory modules….." Bonnie trailed off as she was rattling off why he didn't remember.

Kalem was about to say something when Micheal came out of the tiny kitchen with a plate and a sandwich.

"I hope you like peanut butter." He said giving Kalem the plate.

Kalem smiled.

"Thank you. My roommates allergic so we can't keep it in the apartment." He picked up the sandwich and started eating.

While he ate Devon starting asking Micheal how his previous case went. Micheal was trying to explain to Devon why he hadn't finished his report in the 6-hour drive.

"Devon, I had other plans for the 6 hours."

"Such as?" Devon crossed his arms over his chest.

"Such as sleep!"

"Micheal, I need that report as soon as possible. The local police are still wondering what the hell happened and I promised they would have a report by Wednesday!"

"Its only Thursday," Micheal said waving a hand dismissively.

"Besides, I've kinda had my hands full-" Micheal was cut off by Bonnie nudging him sharply in the ribs.

"Ack what was that for?" He followed Bonnie's gaze.

Kalem was asleep. His hand holding his head and the sandwich plate next to him.

Devon pulled a blanket from the back of the chair and covered him.

"I'll arrange a room for him to get some proper sleep." Devon went over to the phone to make arrangements.

"Do you believe him, Bon?" Micheal asked quietly.

Bonnie looked at Kalem sleeping on the couch, then looked at Micheal.

"I think I do, I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing. I believe him but at the same time…. I don't."

Micheal nodded.

"The feelings mutual."


	8. Chapter 8

The garage was dark. He desperately wanted his eyes to adjust to the darkness that seemed to swallow him up, but his eyes weren't adjusting. He saw it! A light! Coming out from underneath a door. He could feel fear as he slowly started towards the door when he slipped on something. The room was suddenly bright with light! He looked to the floor and found CPU fragments scattered about. The lights were getting brighter. He picked up the largest chunk of CPU and turned it over only to drop it in shock. A sticker reading K.I.T.T was stuck to the chuck. Panic slowly took over from fear as the lights went out.

He was sitting in the semi, it was still dark but this time he was holding something. A dart with blue feathers. Something grabbed him from behind and pushed him down to the floor.

Kalem jolted awake when he hit a hard surface. The floor.

It took him a moment to get his bearings, then he realized he was in a room. Where? It had to be the foundation.

Rubbing his head, he stood up and looked around.

He'd been sleeping on a four-poster bed, on top of the bedspread. A blanket was wrapped around his feet.

Sighing he picked up the blanket and sat down on the bed. He remembered having a sandwich in the semi then he must have fallen asleep.

Kalem closed his eyes. He was still reeling from that nightmare. The CPU seemed to find its way into all his nightmares. It could make a peaceful dream turn into a nightmare from the sight of it.

He hated it.

Getting off the bed he walked over to the window and opened the curtain to see sprawling green gardens with a thick forest at the perimeter. Kalem could only just see the pool off to the side.

He opened the other curtain to let more light in. Turning back to the room he could see the ensuite, there was a dresser with a mirror on the wall opposite the bed and a closet next to the window. A chair sat at an angle to the window, 'a nice place to read.' Kalem thought.

There were two bedside tables on both sides of the bed. One had a clock. The time read 8:35 am. How long had he been asleep?

There was a soft knock on the door. Kalem was about to go and open it himself when it swung open.

Michael Knight stood in the doorway with two paper bags.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

Kalem nodded, then said. "How did I get here?"

Michael came in and put the bags on the bed and smiled.

"You fell asleep in the semi, I thought you'd get better sleep in an actual bed."

Kalem felt his ears tingle. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. He's just been so tired….

"I got you some..uh.. necessities. Toothpaste, toothbrush, shower gel that kinda thing." Michael said as he poked around in the bag then turned to Kalem.

Kalem was rubbing his tongue over his teeth. Furry.

"Thanks. You didn't have to do that." He said as he came towards Michael to look in the bag, but instead, he saw his reflection in the dressers mirror.

"Dear god! I look like I was hit by a bus!" He tried to flatten his hair, but it didn't work.

Michael was grinning at him. "Shower might fix that."

Kalem nodded. A shower would definitely help.

"Oh, and these are for you. There RCs. KITT says you two are closer in height so…. here" Michael handed Kalem the bag of clothes.

"Thank you. Although you really didn't have to do this." Kalem felt a little bit guilty that Michael had done this. He knew he'd never be able to pay him back.

Michael was shaking his head. "It was nothing. Let's call it a group effort, Bonnie told me what I should get, Devon gave me the money, RC let us go through his closet, which I don't recommend, and KITT and I collected everything."

Kalem smiled. "At least it was a group effort."

He felt awkward talking to Michael. There were so many things he wanted to tell him. But he'd only just 'met' him.

"Well, I'll let you freshen up. When you're done, there are guards outside, they'll take you to Devon's office." Michael said turning to leave.

"Guards?" Kalem asked. Did they expect him to run away?

Michael turned and gave him an apologetic look.

"It's just for now until you know your way around."

Kalem knew he was lying, he'd heard that tone before.

Michael turned and left Kalem by himself.

He looked at his reflection. They didn't trust him? He didn't blame them, he looked - and probably smelled - like a homeless person.

Picking up the bags he headed for the bathroom.

X

9:48 am. Kalem would have spent more time in the shower if his stomach hadn't started begging for food.

He stood in front of the mirror and combed his fingers through his still-damp hair. The shower had revived him slightly but he still felt tired. The clothes Michael had taken from RC were still a size too big, he had to roll up the jeans and use the last belt loop, but he didn't mind the gray t-shirt.

He smiled ruefully at his reflection. He'd always been told he was too wrapped up in appearances. The boys in the group homes used to tease him about it. Going from a gleaming, sleek black car to a skinny teenager was the most embarrassing he'd ever lived through. Yes, he had lived through it. He wasn't a teenager anymore and maybe he had stopped caring about his appearance. Maybe.

Sighing he opened the door and was greeted by two men standing on either side of his door. They turned and looked at him, then told him to follow them.

He had never seen the inside of the foundation, he had only seen pictures or blueprints but never actually seen the inside up close.

There were paintings on almost every wall, decorative vases on pedestals, some with flowers most without.

Kalem was soaking it all in. He felt like he was walking through a dream or some virtual reality tour on his roommate's VR headset.

He had been so busy taking everything in, he had not noticed. The Jean's the had rolled up had come down. As Kalem got to the top of the stairs, one guard walked in front of him the other behind, he got his foot stuck in the fabric and fell.

He landed on something quite soft until it roughly pushed him out the way and he found himself facing a gun.

Kalem had fallen down the stairs before, it wasn't a big deal. Nothing broken, except maybe his pride. He had landed on the guard in front of him and now, both guards held guns in their hands.

"Woah Woah! Hey!" Micheal's voice seemed to echo in the foyer.

Kalem looked to see Michael and Bonnie rushing out to see what happened.

"What happened?" Bonnie asked.

"He attacked me." The guard said gruffly.

Kalem looked at the guard in disbelief. He could feel Michael and Bonnie looking at him.

"I tripped! It was an accident." Kalem stood up and pointed to the too-long pant leg.

Kalem saw Michael whisper something to Bonnie, she nodded then came up and took his arm.

"Come on," she said smiling, "Devons waiting."

Kalem followed Bonnie then turned to see Michael say something to the guards. Bonnie nudged him and he looked at her.

"Don't mind them. Devon wanted to make sure you wouldn't….. do something dangerous.."

Kalem scoffed. "Like what? Attack them with the alarm clock?"

Bonnie grinned at him.

"I think they were thinking the worst. Did you sleep alright?"

Kalem glanced over his shoulder then looked back at her. He knew she was trying to change the subject. He was starting to get the feeling that maybe they hadn't believed him entirely in the semi. He starting to wonder why. Why didn't they believe him? KITT had believed him, hadn't he? KITT had been trying to reassure him that they would believe him. Of course, KITT could tell when he was lying but was that why KITT believed him? KITT had spoken to Michael and told him he-

A light went on in Kalem's head.

That's it! He thought. That's why they didn't believe him! His voice. Over the years he's changed the ways he talked to….fit in, something he never thought he'd have to do. He didn't talk or sound like he used to. It would take more effort on his part but he could go back to speaking the way he had. Couldn't he?

"Yes I slept well, thank you."

He saw Bonnie glance at him as she led the way to Devons office.

This was going to be a long day.

X

Devon had been on the phone when they arrived at his office. Bonnie told Kalem to sit and he went over to the couch and sat down.

He felt like a child. At least they hadn't told him to sit outside. He hated being told to sit outside while the adults talked.

Devon's office was probably the most ornately decorated, with a collection of books, most of them collectors from the looks of it, on the bookcase at the back of the room. His mahogany desk sat against a set of windows. All of this Kalem had only just seen. Micheal had always told him how decretive Devon's office was but as a car, he never actually got to see it.

His eyes started to sting. Why? He rubbed his eyes and opened them to find a rather blurry looking Bonnie looking at him. She was sitting on the couch opposite him. She smiled softly, then a look of horror seemed to appear on her face, but it disappeared just as soon as he'd seen it.

"Are you alright?" He asked her. Why had she looked like she'd seen a ghost?

Bonnie stared at him and was about to answer when the door opened. Micheal.

Devon put the phone down with a clunk.

"That was Dr, Petterson, he says he can come at around two o'clock and to an exam."

Micheal leaned on the desk and looked at Kalem.

He felt like he was under a microscope like everyone was looking at him. And they were. He needed something, anything to talk about. But what. He glanced around the room and saw something that made him leap up, and the others jump back.

"My backpack!" God, he sounded like a little kid he thought.

Micheal picked it up and handed it to him.

Riffling through it the one thing he wanted was the one thing that wasn't there.

"This is going to sound a bit odd, but did you find a…. Um…. Silvery thing in here?"

"This silvery thing?" Devon held it up. He'd been keeping it in his desk.

Kalem let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you have it! I hate to think what would happen if someone else got their hands on it." He moved forward to get it but Devon moved back.

"I'm sorry Kalem, but you're going to have to tell us what it is before I even think about giving it back to you."

Kalem bit his lip and looked at Devon. How was he supposed to explain it? It had taken him several months to get used to all the modern technology, how was he even supposed to explain it.

"You're not going to believe me." He said with an almost sad smile.

"Try us," Micheal said crossing his arms over his chest.

Kalem looked at Michael then Devon then Bonnie. At least it was them he thought. If it had been anyone else he knew he'd be locked in a funny farm. But, the kind of work they did, the would most likely believe him. Well, he hoped.

"It's a cell phone."

"It's what?" Micheal said

X

Kalem sat at the table in what he would call the mess hall. The kitchen had made waffles that had hit the spot. Bonnie and Micheal sat next to him.

He figured Micheal was a bodyguard. For Bonnie. Micheal watched his every move.

Bonnie was for the moment fascinated by his phone.

"So this device can receive and make calls, take pictures, be used as a calculator and play music?" She said in awe.

Kalem nodded with a smile.

"I wish the battery wasn't dead. I was hoping it would work." Kalem said.

"All in all its fascinating! But do people still use calculators and cameras?" Micheal asked as he leaned forward to have a look at the phone.

"Yes. lots of people still do. Not everyone relies on them." Kalem replied.

Micheal nodded and was about to say something else when Cathy the receptionist came into the room.

" Mr, Knight?" She squeaked.

"You can call me Michael, Cathy we've been over this." He said smiling.

Kalem saw her blush.

"Of course Mr. I mean Michael. Mr, Miles wanted me to tell you that Dr, Petterson is here." With that, she left.

Kalem had assumed the doctor was her for Micheal, but when Micheal stood up and nudged Kalem.

"The doc's here to see you."

"What? Why?"

Michael shrugged, "Devon thought it would be best."

Kalem stood up and started following Michael, then stopped and turned back to Bonnie.

"I feel I do not have to say this but, please don't let that out of your sight. I don't want it to get in the wrong hands." Thinking of all the time travel movies his roommate liked to watch, bringing something that technologically advanced into the '80s was probably time travel rule 1.

Bonnie smiled. "Don't worry I'll keep it safe."

Kalem nodded then followed Michael back into the hall.

"Should I be worried about this?" Kalem aksed.

" 'bout what?" Michael looked at him with a confused look.

"The doctor's appointment? If it can be called that."

Micheal shook his head. "I don't think you should have anything to worry about unless you're trying to hide something?"

Kalem shook his head. "I've never been a good liar.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I realized I haven't been updating this on this site for so long that the chapters are way behind whats actually current. Hopefully it dosent feel like spam, but Im going to try post all the chapters here. Include the newest one ;)

Michael leaned against Devon's mahogany desk skimming through the contents of a folder he'd been given.

He had left Kalem with Dr.Petterson after the doc had said he wanted to talk with Kalem alone. He had thought Kalem looked a bit scared when the door had closed, but he brushed that off. He was on guard duty. Devon and Micheal still had reasons to believe Kalem was playing them. Bonnie and KITT, however, seemed to think he was...well… the real deal.

"Why did you call Dr.Petterson?" Michael asked Devon with a skeptical look on his face.

Devon sighed. "I'm not sure my boy. Reassurance perhaps? Dr, Petterson was a close friend of both mine and Wilton. He had been around when Wilton's health started going downhill. He treated him quite often in the lab while Wilton supervised KITTs progress, that is before he got sick..." Devon seemed almost sad, but he quickly went back to boss mode.

"Have you looked over that yet?" Devon nodded towards the folder Michael held in his hand, changing the subject.

Michael nodded. 6 break-ins, all into buildings owned by Knight Industries and the Foundation. Every single computer lab had been trash, but no evidence that they took anything and nothing else had been touched.

"Why are you only giving me this now?" Michael asked Devon.

Devon hesitated. "Up until now, you were busy."

A light bulb went on in Michael's head.

"Hang on, do you think Kalem has something to do with this?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Devon said as he landed forward on his desk towards Michael. "I want you to keep a close eye on Kalem. I'm not sure we should be leaving him alone."

Michael nodded, taking the folder with him he left Devon's office in search of the only KITT he knew.

X

Micheal knocked on Kalem's door. The door swung open and Kalem looked at him.

"Hi." Kalem said almost shyly.

Micheal smiled at him. He wanted to get more information about him before he started to suspect him. Yes, some part of his gut told him he was telling the truth, but another part told him to be careful.

"Wanna go out for lunch?" Micheal asked casually.

Kalem just blinked at him.

"Why?"

Micheal shrugged. He didn't actually have a plan, just get Kalem to talk to him.

" 'cause I thought it would be nice?" Micheal tried.

Kalem still just looked at him before nodding.

"Where are we eating?" Kalem said as he left his room.

X

The Red Bird Diner. RC had found it a few months before, and it was a spot they went to often. Devon wasn't a huge fan, but for Michael, Bonnie and RC it was great. With its white and red classic diner-style and the old posters hung up on the wall it seemed like the perfect place to take Kalem for lunch.

The drive there had been in silence. Kalem hadn't said a word. Neither had KITT. Michael knew by now that unless there was something on KITTs "mind" he was normally very chatty.

"What do you want to know?" Kalem asked Michael after they'd ordered they're sandwiches.

Michael looked him in the eye as if trying to find the answers there.

"How are you human? I mean how does an A.I get to be human?" His curiosity got the better of him. Michael knew Bonnie and Devon would want to know as well, but he just couldn't wait for them.

Kalem gave a sad sort of smile.

"That's, unfortunately, the one thing I can't answer. I don't know. I just remember powering down for the night….and waking up in a hospital."

Over the years of listening to KITTs voice, Michael had discovered he could tell more about a person's emotion from their voice than their expression. He was mostly glad for it. Kalem had sounded almost depressed, Michael thought maybe he should find a different topic to talk about.

"You said you there are things you don't remember, what things might those be?" Michael asked, leaning forward.

Kalem narrowed his eyes and looked at Michael with a suspicious look.

"This is an interrogation isn't it?"

Michael smiled. "If I said yes what would you say?"

Kalem took a deep breath and leaned forward. "I would say that I can remember everything about being KITT, except I know for a fact that I have never been to this diner. Human or Car."

Michael sat back. That wasn't the answer he'd been hoping for.

"Do you ever remember there being break-ins at foundation owned buildings?"

Kalem thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"Not that I can remember no. Sorry." He looked up at Michael and gave him an apologetic smile.

Michael just looked at him.

Devon was convinced that Kalem had something to do with the break-ins but Michael doubted that.

Kalem was fidgeting with the napkin on the table when the food arrived. Within 10 minutes everything was gone. Michael had eaten in silence and Kalem had been too hungry to talk.

Michael's watch beeped.

"Yes KITT?" Michael saw Kalem glance at him.

"Michael, can I ask Kalem something?"

Michael looked up at Kalem who was trying not to listen to them.

"Of course you can pal." He took his watch off and handed it to Kalem.

"Yes KITT?" He seemed almost unsure of himself when talking into the watch.

KITTs voice came through the comlink louder than Kalem had expected.

"How old are you? I was trying to get your exact age but since your driver's licence is...well..out of date it proves to be rather difficult."

Kalem chucked, A sound Michael found fascinated him. KITT didn't laugh, he didn't have the ability too, although he has tried on occasion.

"I just turned 20 last week." Kalem was saying.

"Happy belated Birthday. Do you go to university?" KITT asked.

Michael realized KITT actually wanted to talk to Kalem more so he told Kalem they should go. Kalem gave the comlink back and they left the diner.

"You never answered KITTs question. About university." Michael said as he crossed to the driver's side.

Kalem stopped and looked at him.

"I can't afford it."

"How come?" KITT asked.

Kalem just shrugged. "Well, I 'grew up' in an orphanage. It's not like the movies where you say you were an orphan and they hand you your acceptance letter. I tried I just….didn't get in."

Michael felt bad for him. "Sorry to hear that." He said quietly.

Kalem shrugged again.

"It doesn't bother me. Besides at least I won't be in debt!" He smiled and opened the door.

"Ha! Good point." Michael said smiling as he got in the car.

"Are we going back to the foundation, Michael?" KITT asked.

"Yeah, why?" Michael asked.

"Well it's a 10-minute drive back, so now we can have a 10-minute conversation with Kalem, I'd like to go first if that's alright?"

Kalem chuckled. "Go ahead KITT."

"Right, well, the first thing I would like to ask you is why did you pick the chicken out of your sandwich?"

Michael laughed as he pulled KITT out of the parking lot and headed back to the foundation.

X

"I have eyes on him!" A man said as he watched the black trans am speed out of the parking lot with Knight and the kid.

"Find out his location. Wherever he is the CPU should be too." A female voice sounded in the passenger seat.

The man looked over and picked up his phone.

If anyone had been watching him they would have thought it odd that he was talking on a slim, shiny device. But he didn't care if anyone saw him.

"Look, boss, wouldn't it be easier to grab him now?" He was getting sick and tired of being here. His phone hardly worked except for taking pictures and making phone calls thanks to the wireless internet router he'd been given. Without it, he'd be stuck.

"No. You failed to tag him at the hospital, and you've been making a mess of things at the other buildings. When you find out where he is you let me know first. Understand?" Said the woman.

The man gritted his teeth. "Yes, boss."

"Good," she said almost sweetly. "Now find out where he's going. But don't follow too closely! That car will be able to tell if you're following them."

With that, the woman hung up.

Throwing his phone onto the passenger seat he picked up his tranquilizer gun. Loading in the blue feathery darts he put it back in the glove box. He'd lost three darts trying to get the kid at the hospital and he'd ended up taking out a paramedic. The medic was fine just slept for a few hours, but the boss wasn't happy. Watching the trams - am disappearing around the corner, he put on his dark sunglasses and started following.


	10. Chapter 10

Michael was still smiling as he drove KITT around to his garage. He'd just dropped Kalem at the main entrance into the mansion, the two guards Devon had assigned to keep an eye on Kalem had been waiting for him at the door.

It had been an entertaining drive back to the foundation. Apparently, Kalem didn't eat meat and he called himself a vegetarian. Michael had had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact. That one can choose not to eat meat just sounded crazy to Michael.

Michael and KITT had sat and watched the guards take Kalem inside before continuing on to the garage.

"Why does Devon think Kalem needs to be under guard?" KITT asked Michael as they drove around to his garage.

Michael sighed. "Because KITT, Devon thinks Kalems got something to do with the burglaries."

KITT thought for a second before responding. "But why would Kalem have anything to do with that? He's only been here for two days."

Michael shook his head. "I don't know KITT. Devon still doesn't trust him."

KITT was quiet.

Michael had found that spending a few hours with Kalem, even if he was mostly silent, Michael found that he believed him more Especially after they're meat conversation.

Pulling into the garage Michael saw Bonnie sitting over a desk. She had been so engrossed in her work she hadn't heard them come in.

"Michael! How was lunch?" She asked. Michael could hear her voice almost buzzing with nearly contained excitement.

He shrugged. "Not too bad. He's a vegetarian so make sure the chef knows." Michael teasingly said as he leaned against her desk while she continued working.

Michael watched her untangle wires and then took Kalem's "phone" out of the drawer. He normally had no idea what she was doing, and he found that when he did ask her it was normally a response that results in him asking "What's that in English?". Michael did credit himself for having learned over the years what certain things were, but he still refrained from asking.

"I wanted to see if I could get this to power on." Bonnie was saying as she inspected the phone.

Michael shrugged. "Talking to the wrong person here."

Bonnie nodded. She had asked the guards to tell Michael to bring Kalem around to the garage, but they insisted that they would escort him to the garage. Michael could only assist in giving her the completely lost look.

The doors of the garage opened and Kalem and the guards came in. Bonnie thought the guard's Devon had asked looked like thugs. Terry, was bald and had tattoos on biceps that didn't fit their sleeve, he was also the more….trigger happy of the two. Jim was definitely the nicer one. Bonnie had actually seen him smile.

Kalem smiled at them as he seemed to cautiously come up to Bonnie's desk.

"Did you get it to turn on?" He asked shyly when he saw his phone on the counter.

Bonnie shook her head. "To be completely honest I have no idea what I'm doing with this." She picked up Kalems phone and handed it back to him.

Kalem sat down on the chair next to Bonnie's desk. He looked at his phone and then seemed to inspect the hole on the small side of it.

Michael and Bonnie watched him for a moment before Michael started talking again.

"Are we sure there wasn't anything at these break-ins? Fingerprints? Footprints? Witnesses?" Michael was sure they're had to be something. No one was that good.

Bonnie meanwhile was shaking her head. "There was nothing Michael. No fingerprints, nothing! These people were good. They didn't even trip the alarm until they left."

Bonnie had gone through everything, so had KITT and even Devon had offered his help. Michael was flipping through the folder on Bonnie's desk when one of the guards spoke up.

"Is it wise to be talking about this in front of….. him?" Terry said gesturing to Kalem.

Kalem looked up. He looked at Terry then looked around the room then back at Terry. "Oh, you're talking about me!" He gave Terry a sly smile then looked at Michael and Bonnie who had a shocked look on their faces.

Kalems smile disappeared. He realized what he'd said sounded snarky, but he didn't normally feel bad about it if the person was being just as snarky. Now, however, he felt like he'd just insulted the president.

"I can leave," Kalem said standing up. He put the phone back on the desk and noticed a red cable running along the behind of the desk. Since as long as he'd been human he'd always had a wandering mind. It annoyed others and sometimes even it annoyed him, but this time he was glad about it.

Kalem gave Bonnie a big grin and grabbed his phone.

"We can charge it!"

Bonnie blinked and looked at him curiously. "How?"

Kalem was practically jumping up and down. "The sockets haven't changed! The power sockets are the same as the ones in my apartment!" He knelt down to look at the socket in the wall then stood up to see Bonnie looking concerned and Michael amused.

"That could work. But how does it charge?" Bonnie asked as she took the phone from Kalem, forgetting the angry guard Terry was still in the room.

"It needs a charging cord….." Kalem trailed off as he realized that he didn't have one.

"Do you have a charging cord?" Michael asked. Michael had been the one to go through his pockets and his backpack and he didn't see any cords.

Kalem shook his head. "I took it out of my bag. I didn't think I would need it." He sounded crushed.

"I'm sure we'll find another way to charge it," Bonnie said. She had been just as excited as Kalem was about finding how to power it up. He gave her a weak smile.

"Michael, Devon's calling," KITT said suddenly.

KITT had been quietly watching the exchange and Kalem felt bad that he hadn't said anything to KITT.

Michael got into the cabin and started talking with Devon. Bonnie was trying to tell Kalem how she thought she could charge his phone, but he wasn't listening. He was watching Michael. Something was wrong. He could feel it. His friends teased him and would say that his "spidey sense is tingling" he would just laugh it off but this was different, he just didn't know how until Michael relayed the information.

"A silent alarm's been tripped at one of the storage buildings on the parameter! KITT and I are gonna check it out." With that, he got in and the black t- top speed off.

Kalem and Bonnie watched them go, then he turned back to look at her. She had put a box on the counter and was connecting it to some cables. He recognized what it was.

"That's a CPU!"

Bonnie smiled at him and nodded. "It's a backup. KITT's backup."

Kalem looked at her blankly. "I don't remember that…."

She looked at him and said, " I just started doing them a few weeks ago. We've had so many things happen to KITT in this year alone. We almost lost him a few weeks ago."

Kalem nodded. It was a good idea but something else was bothering him. Bonnie was calm, way to calm. Maybe he hadn't seen her in so long he thought she'd handle it differently. He brushed that thought aside and was about to ask her about the burglaries when Terry came up to him and growled: "Time to go."

Kalem said bye to Bonnie and then followed the guards out. Turning back he saw Bonnie disconnecting the CPU, then the door closed and he was taken to his room.

X

Michael pulled up to the gate and slammed on the brakes. The barricade was broken and the guards that patrolled the area were unconscious in front of the guard's box.

Getting out of the cab Michael rushed over to them.

"KITT! Scan their vitals!"

"They're all unconscious Michael, it appears they have been drugged," KITT responded.

Michael saw that each guard had a blue feathery darts stuck in their thigh. One dart lay on the ground next to a guard with a dart already in his leg. Michael picked it up.

"Michael, I have been scanning the building and nothing has been disturbed. The alarm was set off from the guard box." KITT told Michael.

Michael looked around one more time then turned to KITT.

"Are you sure?" It was a silly question. KITT was hardly ever wrong.

"I am positive Michael."

Michael looked at the guards then got back in the driver's seat.

"Call an ambulance and see if you can get anything off of this for me will ya," Michael put the blue dart in KITTs chemical analyzer as it slid out, "It looks familiar but I can't place it…" Michael trailed off when he heard the ambulance coming.

"Michael it's the same dart from the hospital! The one those men had!" KITT said.

Michael didn't need to hear anymore. The men that were after Kalem.

"Dammit KITT how come we didn't see it?! They're after Kalem! Call Devon!"

The call never went through.


	11. Chapter 11

KITT's tires squealed on the driveway as Michael slammed on the brakes outside the front entrance to the mansion. The entire mansion was in darkness. Michael entered into a dark hall, he could hear Devon directing people with candles and telling someone to check the generator.

"Devon! Where's Kalem?" Michael asked hurriedly. KITT had tried to call but the call hadn't gone through, it had frustrated KITT and made Michael worry.

Devon blinked at Michael. There was some light coming in from the windows, but with the sun setting, it was slowly getting darker.

"I'm not sure Michael. In his room perhaps?" Devon had hardly finished when Michael was running past him and up the stairs.

Michael half ran down the hallway to where Kalem's room was. No one was on the second floor, and this wing was specifically used as guest rooms. Michael spotted two lumps on the floor by Kalems door.

Stepping over the unconscious guards with the same blue dart in their leg, he carefully opened Kalem's door.

The balcony door was wide open, the curtains gently flowing in the cool breeze. Michael opened the door and scanned the room. Kalem lay on the bed unmoving.

Going over to the bed Michael saw a blue feathery dart, in Kalems hand. Gently shaking him, Michael tried to wake him up, but it didn't work. Kalem just mumbled something about '5 more minutes' and rolled over.

"Michael, what's going on?" Devon asked from the doorway as he stepped over the still unconscious guards.

Michael shook his head. " I don't know Devon, but someone's just gone through a lot of trouble just to give Kalem a sedative."

Devon was about to say something when there was a very loud, very insistent vibrating on the small table next to the window.

Kalem shot up and looked around. His eyes darting back and forth from Devon to Micheal and back.

"What is that?" He asked. Micheal went over to the table and saw a white wire plugged into the socket next to the table.

Kalem slowly got off the bed feeling somewhat dizzy he looked over to the table and felt his stomach drop as Michael picked up the buzzing thing. It was his phone. Attached to a charging cable and from the looks of it, charging.

Moving to stand next to Michael, Kalem took his phone from Michael and switched off the alarm.

"Did Bonnie get it to work?" Michael asked hopefully. When he'd left Kalem didn't have anything to charge it with.

Kalem turned to Michael with a look of shock. "Bonnie!" He exclaimed. "I left the phone with Bonnie before I came up here."

Michael turned and ran out the room, with Devon close behind him.

Kalem stood in his empty room for a moment before pocketing his phone and going after Michael and Devon.

X

Michael burst into the garage. KITT was slowly driving over to an unconscious Bonnie on the floor.

"KITT, scan her!" Michael said frantically as he knelt down next to her and took her pulse, noting the off-putting blue dart in her thigh.

"She's been drugged, Michael. By the same dart from the hospital, and the storage facility." KITT stated, sounding rather worried himself.

Bonnie started to shift and Michael picked her up and put her on the nearby couch that he had moved into the garage on one such occasion to keep KITT company while his MBS dried.

"Hey, Bon bon? Can you hear me?" Michael said softly as he stroked her hair gently.

Slowly, her eyes opened and she started to push him away and then relaxed as she realized it was Michael.

Sitting up on the couch she held her head as a wave of dizziness crashed over her.

Devon handed her a glass of water.

"Bonnie, what happened?" Michael asked her gently. Why would someone target Bonnie if they were after Kalem? It didn't add up.

Bonnie shook her head. "I don't know Michael. I remember Kalem leaving, then it felt like something was biting my leg and the next thing…. Well, I'm here." She sounded like she'd just been woken up from a nap.

Bonnie held her hands to her eyes and rested her elbows on her knees. "I feel like I've been…." She trailed off as she felt the couch move and saw Michael try and give her the water. She shook her head.

"Feel like…?" Devon ventured. He'd been standing across from them, watching and listening.

But it wasn't Bonnie who answered.

"Like you've been spun around a hundred times?" Kalem asked softly. He was kneeling on the floor next to the small coffee table. Michael noticed that KITT was parked right behind Kalem.

Bonnie looked up and him and nodded, then put her face back in her hands.

Michael turned to Kalem. "Why would someone attack Bonnie if they wanted you?"

Kalem looked at the floor below his knees wishing, at that moment that a giant hole would swallow him up.

"I left my phone with her." He said looking at Michael as he pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his too-big Jean's.

Michael scoffed. "Seems like whoever's these people are they're going through an awful lot of trouble to get to you and not even take you with them." Michael said.

Kalem just looked at him.

"What else did they do?" Kalem asked softly.

Micheal looked at Devon and he nodded. Devon didn't look happy.

Michael sighed. "Whoever these people are they staged a break in to get me and KITT away from here. Cut the power so we can't call through to warn you, drug Bonnie, and get into your room but not take anything."

Kalem sat and mulled it over.

"I think they're from my time. 2019 that is." Three sets of eyes nail Kalem. He could feel the warmth of KITT's hood behind him that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"How so?" KITT now asked.

Kalem swallowed. "They knew what to do with my phone. Knew how to plug it in. They even had a charger for it." He still had his phone in his hand. Aside from switching off the alarm, he hadn't done anything else with it.

Michael was about to ask him something when Bonnie got up off the couch. Michael leapt up to help her but she brushed him aside.

"I just need to stretch my legs." She told him as she made her way towards her desk.

Kalem got up off the floor and held his head when the floor seemed to wobble under his feet. He'd felt this feeling before. The on and off dizzy spells that made him want to lie down. Last time he lost consciousness, but that could have just been from the shock of meeting his… counterpart.

Devon turned to Kalem. "We will have to up our security for you. Now since I know absolutely nothing about that device you call a phone, should I be confiscating it?" Devon clasped his hands in front of him and spoke to Kalem like he was a child.

Kalem felt insulted but shook his head. "I promise you, Devon, I can't do anything with this phone. I doubt it'll even be useful it doesn't even have wifi and without —" He stopped. The screen of his phone had switched on, and the wifi signal was strong. "That's not possible….."

"What's not possible?" Michael asked.

Kalem stammered.

"I'm connected to wifi! That shouldn't even be possible!"

Michael and Devon looked at each other, but KITT was the one who spoke.

"Kalem, what exactly is wifi?"

Kalem opened his mouth to explain when Bonnie yelled out "NO!"

"No, what?" Michael asked as they rushed over to Bonnie, who was frantically going through her desk.

"No no no! It can't be. It can't be gone!" She was saying.

Michael grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him. "What's gone?"

She looked at Michael with nearly controlled panic.

"The CPU Michael. KITT's backup CPU. It's gone."


	12. Chapter 12

Bonnie sat in her room. It wasn't often that she stayed at the foundation overnight, but she'd felt like she had too. Devon had been furious with her for making a backup without clearing it with him first. Michael had stood up for her thank god, but still, it was bad. Kalem had been locked in his room, Michael and KITT were patrolling the grounds, Devon was probably still pacing in his office wondering what he was going to tell the board.

Bonnie lay down on her bed and stared at the roof with a sigh. Truth is, she didn't know why she made a backup. She woke up one morning with the idea of KITT having a backup CPU stuck in her head. It had seemed like a great idea at the time, now not so much.

There was a soft knock on Bonnie's door, and she sat up. "Who is it?" She called.

"It's Michael. I come with a peace offering." His voice was muffled by the door.

Getting up and opening her door she saw Michael standing with a box of pizza and a pack of beer. Not how she would normally be spending her night, but it was a better idea than sitting and self-loathing.

Michael placed the Pizza and beer on a small table in between a chair and a couch.

"I thought you and KITT were doing patrol?" Bonnie asked as she sat down on the couch.

Michael handed her a beer.

"We were, but the security team Devon hired arrived. So KITT and I went and got Pizza!" He flipped open the pizza box lid revealing a pepperoni pizza.

Bonnie smiled and took a sip of her beer. "How's Devon doing?"

Michael snorted. "Last I saw him he was on the phone with the bored asking them for increased security or somethin'." Michael took a slice of pizza and started eating.

Bonnie just sat. She didn't feel very hungry. People had been hurt! By some crazies who were only looking for the CPU. And Kalem.

Snapping out of her thoughts she looked at Michael who was somehow on his second slice.

"Did Kalem get anything to eat? Maybe we should share…" she trailed off as Michael started shaking his head.

"You can go an ask thing one and two if you'd like," He said around a mouthful of pizza. "But I tried before I came here and they said he would be getting something from the kitchen."

"Oh." Was all Bonnie said before taking a slice of pizza. They sat in silence for a few moments until Michael leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and crossing his figures. He had a concerned look on his face.

"Bonnie, I have to ask this, and please don't get...mad at me but, why did you make a backup CPU? Why didn't you tell us?"

Bonnie knew it was coming. She put her plate down and looked at Michael, feeling as if those blue eyes could see into her soul. No that must be the beer talking.

"I don't know why I did it. It was after a case, we almost lost KITT. There was too much damage to his memory module and–" Michael cut her off.

"But you fixed him, remember? You told me all this and I said I believed you could do it and you did!" He reached out and held her free hand, squeezing it slightly.

Bonnie nodded solemnly. "Yes. I remember. I went home after that and when I woke up I had the idea of a backup CPU that could hold a copy of KITT. Now that I'm explaining it, it sounds insane." She took a sip of beer.

Michael took a moment before he let go of her hand and leaned back into the chair. It didn't sound crazy to him. It seemed like a good idea! But having a copy of KITT didn't seem like a good thing.

Whatever Michael planned on saying next it never happened. A loud crash coming from downstairs sent Michael and Bonnie rushing to look.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs was the maid and the cook. The maid came in every so often when they had guests staying at the foundation and the cook, well, he was always there. Now it seemed like they were tripping over one another. There was food on the floor and laundry mixed in.

The guards from Kalems room came down the hall to see what all the commotion was, then they turned and went back to their posts.

"Doesn't look like our guest is getting any dinner anytime soon," Michael commented.

Bonnie nodded. Ever since he'd got here nothing seemed to be going right. People were on edge about the break-in and, for a place full of scientists, everyone was gossiping about the boy in the second-floor guest room.

Bonnie had heard someone say he was under house arrest, and that they were looking after a criminal with mob debts. She had to shake her head at those ideas. She had always thought trouble followed Michael everywhere, but maybe it followed KITT too. Maybe that's why bad things were happening.

It was a childish thought. Bonnie looked at the guards at Kalem's door.

"Do we still have some pizza left?" She asked Michael.

He disappeared into the room and came back with the pizza box.

"Still enough to share," Michael said with a glint in his eyes.

Michael let Bonnie lead the way to Kalem's room when the maid caught his attention. Not in a normal Michael Knight way, but in the, I've seen her somewhere before way.

"We thought we share our pizza with him. Right Michael?" Bonnie was saying to the guards.

Michael watched as the maid picked up her laundry basket and walked off, her red hair falling out of her ponytail— he shook his head. It's been a stressful day.

He turned to Bonnie and the guards and showed them the pizza. They nodded and knocked on the door.


	13. Chapter 13

It took multiple knocks and some "starting to panic" guards before Kalem opened the door.

"These two wanna share their food with you." Terry, the bald guard said. He sounded like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Oh, Sure, come in." Kalem moved aside and Michael and Bonnie came in.

Sitting down in the small seating area a silence fell on the room. Kalem set about picking the pepperoni off his pizza which made Micheal and Bonnie watch him in fascination.

Kalem glanced up then looked at them with a look of suspicion. "What?"

"Nothing, just watching," Michael said as he took a bite of his pizza.

Kalem looked at both of them then went back to his pizza.

Another awkward silence took over the room.

"What was that crash just now? Before you came in." Kalem asked as he started on his second slice of pizza.

Bonnie answered him. "The chef and the maid had a collision on the stairs. Your dinner is all over the floor so we thought we'd share ours."

Kalem nodded. He felt awkward with them. He didn't know why he just did, and it bothered him!

When the disappearance of the CPU had been discovered he had been escorted back to his room. He had seen the nervous glances other people had cast him, felt their stares on the back of his neck. He was so happy to see Michael and Bonnie and even Devon! All he wanted to do was hug them and tell them he missed them.

Michael nudged him with a beer bottle holding it out for him to take he shook his head. "I don't drink."

Michael's eyebrows raised then he smiled. "I shouldn't be surprised."

Bonnie turned towards Kalem now.

"Do you mind if I ask you why you go by Kalem and not Kitt?"

He gave her an almost sad smile.

"It's a long story."

"I'm not going anywhere," Michael said leaving forward and putting his chin in his hands like a child waiting for a story.

"Uhm, ok.."Kalem stammered to find the right words. "Well, I had to stay in this...orphanage type place for a few months before I could go anywhere –" Michael cut him off.

"Why were you in an orphanage?"

Kalem looked at his pile of pepperoni on his plate.

"...I was found on the side of a road, kind of like where you found me," He looked up at Michael then continued, "I was in a hospital for a while. I was transferred to an orphanage after they decided I wasn't a…. a crazy person."

"Did they think you were?" Bonnie asked leaning forward.

"I don't know what they thought honestly." Kalem thought back to the amount of security he was under in the hospital. He didn't think he could come clean and tell them he'd been put in the psychiatric ward after claiming it was 1986. Come to think of it, he'd probably been under the same about of guard than as he was now.

"Anyway, long story short there was this...nurse who used to help out she said I was a peacekeeper and she called me Kalem. It was a nickname at first. Then when I turned 18, I decide to make it my first name." He trailed off.

Bonnie and Michael just looked at him. None of them knew what to say. Kalem had just told them something that, from the look on his face, was a very personal matter to him. What do you say to someone who's just told you that? Michael didn't know. He did have a strong suspicion that Kalem was lying about something, he just didn't know what.

"It's ok you can change the subject," Kalem said with a soft smile on his face. He knew it was a hard subject for some people. Hell his roommate couldn't look him in the eye for at least a few days after he'd told him. Kalem had packed his things in case he was asked to move out. Thankfully, Elijah let him stay.

"I was thinking it's time for bed," Bonnie said getting up. "It's been a draining day. And I'm sure you're tired too." Bonnie resisted the urge to put her hand on Kalem's shoulder. She had always seen KITT as a son and the only way to show affection was a light pat on the dashboard or the hood. She desperately wanted to hug Kalem. He seemed like he'd been through a lot and all she wanted to do was be there for him. He caught her staring and smiled.

"It has been a long day, and I'm sure tomorrow will be just as long." He'd meant it as a joke but it didn't come out as funny as he'd thought.

Michael collected the pizza box and Bonnie took the plates and they started to leave, but before they got to the door Michaels comlink beeped.

"Yeah KITT, what's up?"

"Dove."

Michael looked at Bonnie and then Kalem before responding to KITT.

"Are we speaking in code now buddy?"

"No Michael. Kalem. It means dove in Latin. A dove can be a symbol of peace." KITT stated matter-of-factly.

Kalem was smiling. The first genuine smile Michael thought they'd seen. " I didn't know that. Thanks, KITT."

"You're welcome Kalem." Michaels com went quiet.

"Dove huh? Kalem actually seems to fit you perfectly now." Bonnie said with a smile as she started leaving.

"Good night Kalem."

"Good night Bonnie."

Bonnie said goodnight to the guards then continued toward her bedroom. Michael lingered in the doorway a bit longer.

"Would it have changed anything?" He asked Kalem, who gave him a confused look.

"Changed what?"

"Knowing what Kalem means?"

Kalem looked at him for a moment.

"No."

Michael smiled. He turned to leave when Kalem stopped him.

"Wait! If you had the option to go back to Michael Long would you?" It was an innocent question. Michael hadn't thought of it for a long time. He'd always thought when he left the foundation he'd go back to Long, but that could be a long time from now.

Michael just shrugged. "To be honeset…. I don't know."

Kalem just nodded. He had been hoping for a different answer. He'd been hoping that all those years he couldn't find Michael was because he'd changed it back to Long.

Michael nudged him with the pizza box. "Good night pal." He said with a smile.

Kalem struggled for words he'd never thought he'd say again. "Good night...Michael."

Michael smiled and started down the hall to his room.

X

Kalem was left in a quiet room. He looked at the chairs that had been moved around the small table. Taking a deep breath he walked over to the bed and reached down between the headboard and the mattress, and pulled out his phone. Growing up in an orphanage he had become pretty good at hiding things where no one would look. He switched it on and took a screenshot of the lock screen. The date and time hadn't changed, he didn't think he could change it and still have a working phone. Pulling his legs up he sat crossed-legged on the bed looking at the date on the screen. Saturday, December 28th, 2019, 10:10 pm. He looked up at the small clock on the nightstand which read 10:10 pm, Friday, April 30th….1986

He sighed and put his phone under his pillow. So much had changed. He felt like he did when he'd woken up at the hospital. Lost. Back then he didn't have anyone, now at least he had...friends. Now he had Michael, and Bonnie and even KITT. Still, he didn't feel like he belonged here.

At least they didn't think he was crazy. Well, he didn't think they did. He'd been called crazy for years after he left the psych ward. It wasn't like he'd stayed there for years. It was only for a month, but news travels fast in a group home. Kalem had felt rather odd telling Michael and Bonnie about it since it wasn't something he normally brought up in a conversation.

He yawned. It had been a long day and sleep sounded like a very good idea. Kalem picked up the pyjamas he had found in his room and headed for the shower.

What he didn't see as he turned around was the small white envelope underneath the pyjamas fall off the dresser and slide under the bed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> Now I just wanted to say before you start reading that I tried a different format when I wrote this. I am really hoping it works and you can read it, last time I changed the format it somehow ended up being javascript. Anyway, this is one of the longer chapters and its one of those filler chapters that you feel like you need and can't seem to move on without. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

KITT started up his systems one by one. He started running his self-diagnostic, something he did every day before and after he went into recharge, and occasionally on a slow day when there was nothing better to do aside from beat Michael at chess, poker and blackjack.

KITT checked his internal clock, 7:28 am. KITT always woke Micheal up at 7:30. But it was a Saturday, and KITT knew better than anyone that unless they were on a case, Michael liked to sleep in on the weekends. 

Finishing his self-diagnostic KITT established all systems were functioning efficiently.

He turned his attention to the mansion. The whole incident the day before had been a shock to all of them. Was someone looking for KITT himself? There were so many questions floating around in KITT’s CPU. He decided to store them and ask Michael later. 

Another guard walked into the garage where KITT parked, did a lap, then left. 

KITT watched him leave then turned his attention back to his friends. Bonnie was already up, pacing around her room. It didn’t look like she had much sleep. 

Devon was already in his office reading through reports the guards had been doing all night. KITT knew that there had been nothing of interest aside from a squirrel that tripped a silent alarm and sent people into a frenzy.

Michael was still asleep. 

He scanned the guest room next, checking on the only other resident that had been tranquillized. Kalem. Kalem was up and brushing his teeth. The two rather unfriendly guards being given coffee refills by one of the other guards who had gone for coffee earlier.

The doors to the garage swung open. KITT had been so focused on the upstairs he hadn’t been watching the door. 

It was Bonnie. 

“Good morning Bonnie.” KITT greeted her. He must have missed it when she left her room.

She yawned. “Good morning KITT. How are you today?” 

"I am quite well Bonnie. All systems are functioning at 100%." 

"That's good KITT," She said as she sat down at her desk and put her head in her hands.

"Are you alright Bonnie?"

She sighed and turned around to look at KITT. She gave him a weak smile and walked over to lean on his hood. Something she rarely did. 

“I was stupid KITT,” Bonnie said softly. She sounded sad and KITT couldn’t understand why. He had talked to her last night and she seemed fine. 

“You were not...stupid Bonnie. You are the smartest person I have ever met Bonnie.” 

She snorted then patted KITT’s hood.

“Thank you KITT. I appreciate your attempt but I still feel like this whole thing is all my–”

Bonnie stopped as the door opened and Devon walked in.

“Ah Bonnie, I was looking for you,” He crossed over to her, his eyes held a sympathetic gaze with hers.

“I am so very sorry for the way I handled things yesterday. I was...Immature. If you can forgive me if you can  _ ever _ forgive me. I am so, so sorry.” Devon seemed to awkwardly stand there looking at them. 

Bonnie slowly moved off KITT’s hood and walked over to Devon. 

“I can forgive you. But I still can’t forgive myself for not telling anyone about the CPU.” 

“Oh my dear,” Devon pulled Bonnie into a hug. Devon wasn’t sure how to comfort Bonnie. Bonnie was like a daughter to him, and he hated to see her upset. 

Bonnie pulled away from him and looked at him with a far-away sort of look. “I was told to make a copy……” 

Devon looked at KITT then back to Bonnie. “What was that?”

She looked like she’d just solved a puzzle. “ I was told! Someone told me. I remember having a conversation with….someone I don’t know and they kept saying I should copy KITT’s program….Just in case.”

“We need to discuss this more. KITT! Find Michael and tell him to meet me in my office.” 

“Of course Mr.Miles.”

KITT watched Devon and Bonnie leave then checked on Michael. Still sleeping.

**X**

Michael woke up with his comlink beeping. KITT woke him up on a daily basis, sometimes he’d let him sleep in and KITT knew Michael would get cranky if he didn't get a chance to sleep in at least once a week. 

Rolling over he grabbed the comlink from the bedside table and clicked the well-hidden button so he could talk to KITT.

“I’m up buddy, I’m up.” He slowly sat up and perched on the end of the bed rubbing his head. He sighed. Too much beer last night. True he’d only had two but it was enough.

“Good morning Michael. You had better hurry up. Devon’s looking for you,” KITT said through the comlink. Michael thought he sounded a bit distant. KITT’s voice didn’t have the usual emotion that it normally had; it was almost monotone. 

“You alright pal? you sound funny.” 

“I am very well Michael but Bonnie remembered something you might find...interesting.”

“Alright, I’ll be down in 10.” Michael heard the comlink beep softly as KITT cut the line.

Michael stretched then sighed. He had a feeling this was gonna be a long day.

**X**

9 minutes. Michael felt a little bit of pride in the fact that he was standing in the hallway 9 minutes later. True it was only by a minute but it still felt good. Michael stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down the hall to Kalem’s room. It had been an interesting evening, to say the least. He started down the hallway to Kalem’s room. It had taken him a few hours to go to sleep that night after hearing Kalems story. He felt bad for him, hell even if he wasn’t KITT he’d feel bad. Kalem had had a rough start to humanity by the sounds of things.

Coming up to Kalems door Michael saw that it was open and the guards were gone. He went into the room to see one of the maids changing the sheets. 

“Ah, there he is! How’s it going, Mike?” The maid asked as she put the last pillow in its case.

Michael smiled. Molly was the only maid on the grounds that called him Mike. She had been here long before he had and she was probably the most straight forward person he’d ever met. 

“Can’t complain Molly. What are you doing here on a fine Saturday morning?” Michael asked as he leaned casually up against the door frame. 

“Just makin’ ends meet,” She said as she started arranging the pillows on the bed. “Say Mikie, who is this kid y’all are guarding anyway? I saw him being taken to breakfast. I half expected him to be in handcuffs.”

“It’s a long story, Molly,” Michael said.

“Mmhm,” It was Molly’s catchphrase. “Oh Mike, Two things,” She said as she turned around to the side table. Michael came over to her.

“One, I found this thing hidden under the mattress,” Molly held up Kalems phone and Michael felt a surge of surprise. He had known Kalem kept his phone and he wasn’t going to take it away from him, but why hide it? Was he worried someone would try and take it?

“It’s.. uh..our guests. I'll make sure he gets it,” Michael pocketed the hard metal like device. “And two?”

“And two is even more interesting than that thing,” Molly reached into her apron that she always wore and pulled out a letter. 

Michael took the letter from her and turned it over.  _ Kalem  _ was written on the back. Micheal furrowed his brow. Kalem hadn’t mentioned anything about a letter. Michael’s first instinct was maybe he was lying. “Where did you find this?” He asked Molly.

“It was under the bed. I was sweepin’ and it came out. Along with a few bust bunnies,” Molly said as she started gathering the laundry and heading for the door. 

  
  


Michael stood in the room and looked at the letter. He wanted to open it, needed to open it. He put the letter into his pocket and decided KITT better scan it first. 

“Mike?” 

Michael turned around to see Molly looking at him. She brushed a strand of her gray, silver hair out of her face. “Be careful with this one. I don’t have a very good feelin’ about him.” With that, she left.

Michael felt the letter in his pocket. He had started to trust Kalem. They had let him into the very heart of the foundation, and the same day he arrives Bonnies attacked, a CPU gets stolen and now a mysterious letter? Michael was starting to get a very bad feeling about this day.

If only he’d listened to that feeling.

  
  
  


**X**

Standing at the bottom stairs Michael looked at Devon’s office door. Maybe Devon had forgotten he wanted to talk with him? He raised his watch to his mouth and clicked the small, very well hidden button to talk to KITT.

“KITT buddy, can you come to the main entrance? I have something I need you to take a look at.”

“Right away Michael,”

  
  


Michael straightened his collar and was about to head for the main entrance as he heard KITT’s turbine on the other side when Devon’s office door swung open.

Devon stepped out and looked down the hall before ushering Michael inside. 

Bonnie was sitting on the couch with a cup of something steaming. She looked pale like she had hardly slept.

"There is something we need to discuss." Devon said, his voice sounding hard and serious. He turned to Bonnie.

“Bonnie,” Devon said gently as he sat down next to her on the couch. “Tell Michael what you told me.”

She took a deep slow breath.

"A few weeks ago, I came home late, well, later than usual. I… I don’t remember...all the details of that night just that I kept hearing a voice."

Michael sat down in from of her. "A voice?"

Bonnie tightens her grip on the mug.

"I thought it was a dream. I remember a blue duck…." She trailed off. A look of confusion crossed her face. "Last night I dreamt of a blue duck. I thought I'd had the dream before and I had! That night with the voices."

Devon and Michael sheared a concert look, which Bonnie caught.

"You both think I'm crazy!" 

"No! No Bon we don't. But, those darts had blue feathers on them—" Bonnie cut Michael off.

"Exactly! That's what I was thinking."

Devon looked at her "So you think you've been...darted before?" 

"Yes."

"Do you remember what the voice was saying?" Michael asked hopefully. The fact that Bonnie had been darted weeks ago was a concerning thought.

Bonnie's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember.

"I'm don't know," she said slowly. "It had something to do with KITT being damaged and needing a backup. When I woke up I couldn't get the idea of a backup CPU out of my head!" 

Devon but his hand on her shoulder.

"We will get to the bottom of this Bonnie. Perhaps your should take the day off—" Bonnie cut Devon off.

"No. The last thing I need it to be alone with my thoughts," Bonnie raised her mug to take a sip when she saw a latter in Michael's hand and stopped.

"What’s that?" 

"Hmmm? Oh," Michael looked as if he had been deep in thought. He held the envelope up for them both to see.

"I don't know. Molly—you know the maid?—found it under Kalems bed while she was cleaning. I was going to have KITT scan it but I was interrupted on my way," Michael cast a glance at Devon. 

“What does it say?” Bonnie asked after taking another sip of the tea Devon gave her. 

Michael shrugged. “I dunno. I didn’t think it was my place to be opening his mail.”

“Well it may not be your place my boy, but I can certainly make it mine,” Devon reached across the table and took the letter using his handkerchief to not get his fingerprints on it –something that had slipped Michaels mind in the first place. Devon gently pulled out the letter and began to read the short, scribbled words.

_ “You are not safe here. They will find you. Run while you still can–K” _

  
  
  
  



End file.
